The 3 large blocks have been replaced with one link top right, called “Site Usage”.
This is becoming neater, the Site Usage is now a page of its own.

When you click this you will get a new page with the 3 large blocks, a not very precise overview of the most-viewed files and an overview of files that you have shared with externals. This latter is very useful!

The “trending” is not very impressive as it does not show any numbers but “Shared Externally” is a useful addition.

The menu on the left-hand side is collapsed (left) and can be expanded (right) – this is only available in the site contents, and I hope it will be rolled out to pages as well. (Users have been asking about it)

Pages, Site Pages and Wiki Pages libraries are finally displayed as being “Page Libraries” instead of “List”, and Picture Libraries are displayed as “Picture Libraries” instead of “List”.
An “Asset Library” is still mentioned as “List” though.

I always forget if I have to click the tile (yes) or the … (no) to open up the list/library.

So, will my concerns be gone after the design change?

This is the new design

The new design – top of page

Eyecatcher: 3 new content blocks

Number of Site Visits

Trending content

Tips

I am not very active in my Office 365 environment, so the numbers displayed in the screenshot are not exactly informative, but you will get the gist. I am curious to see if the trending content itself will be displayed eventually, apart from the number.
I think this will create welcome transparency.

2. A new way to create new items

Instead of the “Add an app” tile you now select “New” and you can pre-select the desired item you want to add.
It appears that lists and libraries are no longer called “apps” – this calls for a happy dance!

Creating a new item

If you click “Library”, you will go immediately to the new document library creation page.
If you click “apps” you will go to the known grid of app tiles.
I have not tested the Lists and Subsites yet.

3. The actual content

Underneath, your site’s real content is displayed.

The actual Site Contents. Please note the site top bar and header stay where they are when you scroll down.

These are no longer displayed as tiles, but as a list. The list is sorted on list type, and then alphabetically on name, displaying icon, name, type, number of items and last modified date.

The subsites are displayed on a separate tab:

The list of subsites, with #Views, and Created and Modified Dates.

What do I think?

I like this new design.

I especially like the list of apps with their smaller icons, because the smaller icons show more variety than the big blue tiles, and are therefore easier to distinguish.

The modified date is a granted wish. I am totally fine with “one hour ago” or “two days ago” but when it is more than a month ago, I prefer to see the exact date.

Sorting the list on List type is helpful.

The Created and Modified Dates for the subsites are also very helpful.

I still have to see what extra value the 3 new blocks on top will have, but I can imagine these will be useful.

Also, it looks like older versions of SharePoint. While this may be a disappointment to some, at this moment it is very welcome to me. The company I work for is moving to Office 365 and I am concerned that our users will be totally lost in their new environment.

What do I miss?

The description of the list or library.

Accurate descriptions and icons for Images and Pages libraries – these are libraries, not lists!

And…

The link to go back to the new look-and-feel!!!

When I noticed the new design, I found it had been changed across all my sites. That annoyed me because I did not have a screenshot of “before”.
Then I noticed a link, bottom left, saying: “Return to Classic SharePoint”. I created some screenshots of the new situation “just in case” and clicked that link…

All my sites turned back to the Classic look, with no link to the new design 😦

I can only hope that this change will be rolled out irreversibly in a few months. But if you know how to reset it, please let me know!

[Update June 13, 2016: Fortunately Andrew Gilleran knew the solution: Log out and log in again. A new session will restore the new look-and-feel! Thanks, Andrew!]

At the moment I find all changes quite interesting, but I can imagine that, after go-live, it becomes quite a thing to keep up. Have you any end-user experiences about the rapid changes? I am so worried that we will upset our users by constantly changing their work tools.

I too clicked the same link because I was new to SharePoint online and I wanted to see what the old design looked like. They must have changed it where logging out and back in does not go back to the new look, so now I don’t have the new look – as much as I liked it!